Resigned LTFRB head: 'Factions' at Palace not behind my decision to quit

Resigned Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chairman Nelson Laluces on Wednesday belied speculations the rivalry between powerful factions at Malacañang prompted him to quit his post. In a radio interview, Laluces said his resignation was meant to give new Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II a free hand in reorganizing the department. “Walang ganyang pangyayari, hindi ganyan ang sitwasyon. Nasa iisa lang tayong gobyerno, isang administrasyon," Laluces, a law school classmate of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. who is with the Samar group, said in an interview on dwIZ radio. Roxas, meanwhile, is with the “rival" Balay group. Laluces had admitted he informed Ochoa about his decision to quit. “Sabi niya kung yan ang decision mo ikaw ang bahala," he said. Laluces handed in his courtesy resignation last Tuesday to Roxas, who accepted it. Roxas took over the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) in July, more than a year after his defeat in the vice presidential race in May last year. “Sa akin, ito ang naisip kong dapat gawin, bigyan ng pagkakataon si Secretary Roxas na mamili ng taong mas kilala niya," Laluces said. For now, he said he will wait for his replacement at the LTFRB before he goes on vacation to think about his future plans. He also said he is not discounting the possibility of another job in government. “Ang immediate plans ko pahinga muna. (Pero) kung nais talaga at sabihin nila kailangan ako sa isang agency siyempre di tayo tatanggi riyan, di tayo tatanggi sa trabaho," he said. — LBG, GMA News